Tab. CXXXIV : Jar & drawer on table, from Elementa Entomologica..., Regensburg : Gedruckt mit...

The Joseph F. Cullman, 3rd, Library of Natural History, located in the National Museum of Natural History, holds many volumes on early museums and specimen collecting. This image from Jacob Christian Schaffer’s Elementa entomologica features a jar and drawer of the type used to store natural history collections in museums of the eighteenth century. Early books containing preservation techniques and recipes can help present-day museum staff analyze the condition of old specimens or artifacts. Schaffer was both a Protestant pastor and a naturalist and in this volume offered an introduction to entomology, the study of insects. Schaffer was a specimen collector himself and housed his treasures in his own private museum.